Weekends on the rocks

As winter approaches many IU students become more hesitant when it comes to going out at night into the cold. And while the Bloomington bar scene may not be far from most off-campus housing, there is often a walk involved for the weekend bar-hopper. \nBut when the temperature drops lower than the legal drinking age, some begin to question whether or not it's worth enduring the brrr for the beer.\nSome students believe coat checks would be convenient at bars throughout the winter months.\nThe lack of coat checks in popular bars such as Kilroy's Bar N'Grill and Upstairs Pub prompts most people to leave their coats at home before going out.\n"I don't think many of the bars even have coat checks, so I usually don't bother bringing one," senior Molly Mengel says. "You just learn how to deal without it. It's not the end of the world if you're cold for a little."\nKristin Roemer, a senior and bar enthusiast, said she hardly enjoys walking to the bars in the dead of winter. \n"It's so inconvenient to bring a coat out with you," Roemer says. "Yeah, a coat will keep you warm for the five-minute walk to Kirkwood, but then it becomes a burden. You want to get dressed up all nice and look good to go out, but then if you have a heavy sweatshirt on or something it sucks once you get inside the bar."\nAn obvious solution to eliminate freezing on the walk to the bars would be to wear a coat. However, for various reasons, it's not common to see people in the bars with coats. \n"Then if you brought a coat it's like hmm, what do I do with it now," Roemer says. "Carrying it around all night would be a pain, and I don't want to just set it down somewhere. There's the possibility it could be stolen, but most likely I'd probably just forget about it and lose it." \nWhat many students don't know is, there are bars in the local area that have coat checks for customers.\nUncle Fester's House of Blooze is one of the Bloomington bars that does have a coat check. But Antwon Shade, manager of Uncle Fester's, says the coat check often remains empty.\n"We have a free coat check but few people use it," Shade says. "But you also don't see people carrying around their coats. I think most people catch a ride here and leave their coats in the car." \nStudents do use other means of transportation to avoid the freezing walk such as taking taxis, the Midnight Special bus shuttle, also known to many as the "drunk bus," or their own cars. The Midnight shuttle, provided by the University, runs from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday night when classes are in session. \nNick's English Hut provides free hangers for its customers. However, Neal Molengrast, manager of Nick's, says mostly women use them to hang their purses.\nIf a student complains about the cold or has second thoughts about going out at night because of the weather, they more often than not tough out the cold and end up at the bars. \nBoth Shade and Molengrast say their bar businesses do not decrease during the colder months.\n"It's more of winter break and students leaving campus that hurts business, not the weather," Molengrast says. "This is a college town. If college students want to go out and drink they're going to do it, regardless of what it's like outside"